oxfordshire community mental health teams · oxfordshire community mental health teams | oxford...

Older adult mental health

Oxfordshire community

mental health teams


2 Oxford Health NHS Foundation Trust | www.oxfordhealth.nhs.uk

Introduction

Welcome to Oxford Health NHS Foundation Trust. This leaflet

aims to provide you with answers to the common questions

that people ask when they have been referred to a community

mental health team (CMHT).

This leaflet applies to all older adult community mental health

teams across Oxfordshire.

You can obtain additional information leaflets about the

services we offer from the member of the community team

who visits you. These include information about diagnosis,

treatment options, psychological therapies, memory clinics and

medication.

If English is not your first language, we can provide leaflets in

other languages and we also have access to translation and

interpreting services.

You can contact the community mental health team using the

number below:

CMHT telephone:

…………………………………………

Oxfordshire community mental health teams

www.oxfordhealth.nhs.uk | Oxford Health NHS Foundation Trust 3

What you can expect from the team

You can expect to be offered an assessment of your mental

health and social care needs during an appointment of your

choice and that your privacy and dignity will be respected at all

times. If, after careful assessment, you and the assessor feel

that we can help you, a care co-ordinator will work with you.

A care co-ordinator is the person who will shape a package of

care suited to your needs. We use the Care Programme

Approach (CPA) to make sure everything that should happen

does happen.

The Care Programme Approach

The Care Programme Approach is a way of making sure care is

given and reviewed around your needs. A written care plan is

drawn up with you which aims to ensure that you and

everyone supporting you knows what helps during times of

distress and what everyone needs to help your recovery.

Your care co-ordinator can be a social worker, psychiatrist,

occupational therapist, community psychiatric nurse or

psychologist. You can choose to have either a male or a female

care co-ordinator. If you are not happy with your care

co-ordinator or psychiatrist you can ask to change them. Your

care co-ordinator will see you at agreed appointments either at

your home, at the team base, or your GP surgery. If you prefer,

a family member, friend or advocate can join you at meetings

with staff.



Based on your assessment, you may be offered individual or

group work, family therapy or other talking therapies.

Each CMHT is linked to a ward in an Oxfordshire based

hospital. Sometimes people may need an admission to hospital

for an inpatient stay (occasionally under a section of the

Mental Health Act) once all other care and treatment options

have been fully considered.

If you do need an admission to hospital, your care co-ordinator

and consultant psychiatrist will continue to work with you and

the ward staff so that your admission can be as helpful and as

short as possible.

A discharge care plan will be agreed with you and, with your

permission, your carer before you leave hospital so that you

know what support you can expect once you have returned

home.

Recovery Approach

We have adopted the Recovery Approach in our work. Staff will

work with you in developing a care plan which helps you

towards your recovery. Recovery is a personal, unique process

and we will help you to meet the goals you have set for

yourself. This might include getting back to work, learning new

skills or being involved in your local community.



Family interventions

Families and carers have their own needs as a result of the role

they provide. Family interventions aim to increase support for

the whole family. This includes education about illness,

including early warning signs, goal setting and problem

solving. Interventions are tailored towards the needs of the

family. This is not family therapy. Your care co-ordinator can

give you more information about family interventions.

Carers

People who give you regular support may be described as

carers and may also be family members or friends. They will be

anxious to know how you are and how they can support your

care. It is helpful for us to know who they are and for us to talk

to them and give them general information.

They often have a lot of experience and knowledge that would

be useful to the team in giving you the best help

possible. Also, carers are usually around when the team is not

available and so it would be helpful if they are involved in

planning and reviewing your care. We would like to know how

you would like them to be involved in this.

Carers may also sometimes need support themselves and they

are entitled to what is called a carers assessment. Your care

co-ordinator can tell them about this.



It is also important for us to know if there are children or

young people who you parent, care for or support. We can

make sure that they are offered help and support as this may

be a difficult time for them too.

Carers’ centres

North West Oxfordshire: 0845 712 5546

Witney: 01993 209 432

(Monday -Wednesday 9.30am -1pm only)

Oxford (including young carers): 01865 205 192

South and Vale: 01235 510 212

What happens in a crisis?

The CMHT will work alongside other teams to offer more

intensive support to you at times of greater stress or crisis. If

you need crisis support in the evenings, at weekends or on

Bank Holidays, please contact the on-call GP via the hospital

switchboard on 01865 901 000.

If you need more information, please ask your care

co-ordinator, who will be happy to discuss this with you.



Medication

Most treatment plans will include medicines because there is

good evidence that this can reduce the time that someone is

unwell. You will be offered leaflets with information about your

illness and about the medicines you are prescribed and

possible side-effects.

If you want more information you can ask your care

co-ordinator or pick up a leaflet outlining some useful

websites. Pharmacists and medicines management technicians

work with the team and if you would like to speak to them ask

for a Pharmacy Services leaflet or for someone to contact them

for you.

Physical health needs

It is important that you let us know if you have any physical

health problems. We need to know if you are taking any

medicines, either from your doctor or that you may have

bought. This includes any herbal remedies you may be using.

We will work with you and your GP practice to make sure that

your physical health needs are met, including having an annual

Physical Health Check if required.



Talking treatments

These include cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) and other

types of talking therapies. The broad aim is to help you make

sense of distressing experiences in a way that reduce

confusion and enables you to make positive choices again.

You will be encouraged to promote your own recovery by

addressing problems that you have control over. If faced with

difficulties that are not under your control, we will explore

with you whether a change in perspective would be helpful.

Travel expenses and benefits

If you receive any Government benefits you are entitled to

claim a refund for the cost of travel to appointments as long

as it is part of your treatment plan. For more information ask

for the HC11 booklet which gives more information, or an

HC1 form to claim travel expenses. Ask your care co-ordinator

if you need to apply for or need help to sort out your

benefits.



Confidentiality

Staff must keep your details of care confidential. However,

they also have a duty to share information related to your

care with the CMHT team and the GP practice looking after

you.

It is often helpful to share information with families and

carers. We would always discuss this with you before doing

so and would be guided by you in most cases about what

information is shared.

Very occasionally there may be times when staff are

concerned about safety, either your own or others. At these

times staff may have to share confidential information with

others on a need-to-know basis but they will always inform

you that this is the case and seek your permission where

possible.

Smoking

We have a smoke-free policy and smoking is not permitted

by staff or visitors on any of our sites. We would also request

that you do not smoke when our staff are visiting you at

home.

If you would like help to stop smoking, please let us know

and we can arrange for you to receive support.



Concerns and complaints

We aim to provide you with a high quality service at all times.

However, if you have any concerns, complaints or comments

about your experience of our service then please tell a

member of the team or contact the Patient Advice and

Liaison Service on freephone 0800 328 7971.



This leaflet was developed with help from service users and

carers.

Useful numbers

SANEline 0845 767 8000

Samaritans

(Nationwide) 08457 909 090

(Oxford) 01865 722 122

NHS 111 111

Useful websites

Oxfordshire Mind

www.oxfordshire-mind.org.uk

No Panic

www.nopanic.org.uk

Eating disorders

www.b-eat.co.uk



Oxford Health NHS Foundation Trust

Trust Headquarters

Warneford Hospital

Warneford Lane

Headington

Oxford OX3 7JX

Switchboard 01865 901 000

Email [email protected]

Website www.oxfordhealth.nhs.uk

This department is part of our Older People Directorate.

OP 148.15

mailto:[email protected]

http://www.oxfordhealth.nhs.uk/

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